August 2003

Contents of this issue:
- Egypt and the Bible
- Questions related to Egypt (with answers)
- How to join a Bible email group
- Bible workshops in September


Dear Readers,

Earlier this month in my town, people came together for five days of Community Bible School. It was a joint effort with individuals from nine different churches volunteering. Just over 100 children attended, and, quite frankly, the experience was wonderful.

Our curriculum this summer was published by Standard Publishing and was called "Treasures of the Nile." Because Egypt is the setting for a number of Bible stories, including the foundational ones of Joseph and the coat of many colours and Moses and the Exodus, it behooves all of us to get familiar with this ancient civilization.

People have always found ancient Egypt fascinating, and what's not to like when you think of pyramids, mummies, jewelry, statues, crocodiles, camels and temples?

The first Bible characters to journey to Egypt were Abraham and Sarah. Interestingly, the pyramids at Giza were already built by the time Abraham and Sarah lived. Hagar, the bondwoman who bore Ishmael, was an Egyptian. Genesis notes that Ishmael's "mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt."

Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob, lived in Egypt all of his adult life. Although his story is well-known, there are interesting details in the biblical account which are borne out by Egyptian monuments and papyri. For example, the butler and the baker were released from prison on Pharaoh's birthday. (See Genesis 40:20) The Rosetta Stone noted that it was the habit of the king to release prisoners at his birthday feast.

"The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible" states: "The investiture of an official of high rank is frequently depicted and agrees with the depiction in Genesis, the signet ring, the linen vesture, and the chain about the neck being prominent." (p. 516)

Embalming was not a Hebrew practice, but Genesis relates that both Jacob, at Joseph's command, and Joseph were embalmed.

The story of the Children of Israel in Egypt is picked up in Exodus. In this period Egypt is no longer the hospitable "famine relief center" portrayed in the first book of the Bible. "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph." The Pharaoh directed that all the Hebrew baby sons should be "cast into the river." Of course, Moses is found by Pharaoh's daughter and adopted by her.

Later, Moses leads the Children of Israel out of Egypt, and for most of the rest of the Bible, Canaan (also called Palestine or Israel) is the primary setting.

During the United Kingdom period of David and Solomon, the Bible notes that an Egyptian princess married Hadad, the crown prince of the kingdom of Edom. We also read that "Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt." (I Kings 10:28) Solomon "loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh." His wives numbered seven hundred and his concubines three hundred!

Egypt becomes a refuge again in the nativity story. Matthew narrates: "the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt...."

Below are a few of the Egypt-related questions I used with my class of students at Bible school. If you decide to teach a lesson on Egypt as one of the settings in the Bible, perhaps you'll find some questions that would work well with your Sunday School class. I'd recommend teaching the Bible stories of Joseph, Moses, and the Exodus from Egypt first. Then, you could add an enrichment lesson about Egypt.

Those of you familiar with my book will see that the questions below depart from my usual pattern. Most all of the questions in my book are derived directly from the Scriptures. Teachers and students can find the answers by turning to the Bible citation. With these questions, you may want to make a list of Egypt-related vocabulary words and introduce the materially orally, since most of these questions don't spring directly from the Bible texts.

QUESTIONS RELATED TO EGYPT:

Please name the paper made in Egypt. (Papyrus)

What were Egyptian kings called? (Pharaohs)

What is the longest river in the world? (the Nile)

Memphis and Thebes are two cities of ancient Egypt. What is the current capital city of Egypt? (Cairo)

What is the Rosetta Stone and why is it important? (A black basalt stone found in 1799 that bears an inscription in hieroglyphics, demotic characters, and Greek and is celebrated for having given the first clue to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics.)

What is a cartouche? (An oblong oval figure, as found on ancient Egyptian monuments, enclosing a sovereign's name. Gold cartouche necklaces are hugely popular souvenirs for tourists.)

Can you name an Egyptian pharaoh? (King Tutankhamun is perhaps best known.)

What Bible stories are set in Egypt? (Abram and Sarai, Joseph, Moses, the Exodus, the nativity story.)

The first Bible characters to go to Egypt were Abraham and his wife. Please name Abraham's wife. Genesis 12 (Sarah)

True or false? Jacob lived for a time in Egypt. (True)

Christ Jesus, Solomon, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses all have links to Egypt. What was Solomon's connection with Egypt? I Kings 3:1; II Chronicles 9:28 (Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter and got horses from Egypt.)

"When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." This verse from Hosea is an example of a messianic prophecy. What is a messianic prophecy? Hosea 11:1 (Passages from the Old Testament that Christians interpret as fulfilled in the life of Christ Jesus. The gospel of Matthew is peppered with them.)

For centuries no one could read hieroglyphics. How were hieroglyphics finally deciphered? (By a Frenchman who used the Rosetta stone and cartouches as keys for figuring out the forgotten language.)

The Great Sphinx is near three pyramids in Giza, Egypt. It has the head of a man and the body of what animal? (A lion.)

In which language was the Old Testament written--hieroglyphics, Hebrew, Latin or Greek? (Hebrew)

Only one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still exists? What is it? (See answer below.)
_____________

The Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) is the only remaining Wonder of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was built by the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu of the Fourth Dynasty around the year 2560 BC to serve as a tomb when he died. It ranked as the tallest structure on Earth for more than 43 centuries, only to be surpassed in height in the nineteenth century AD. The structure consists of approximately 2 million blocks of stone, each weighing more than two tons.

The six other Wonders were: the hanging gardens of Babylon, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the temple of Artemus at Ephesus, the mausoleum for King Maussollos, the colossus of Rhodes, the lighthouse of Alexandria.

I had the tremendous privilege of visiting Egypt five years ago. The trip was terrific, and I had a wonderful time. Cruising down the Nile, seeing the pyramids, riding a camel, visiting all the awesome sights, meeting the friendly people, eating the delicious food, and experiencing a culture totally new to me were among the highlights. If any of you have the opportunity to visit Egypt, I highly recommend going. Going to Egypt and Israel was the trip of a lifetime for me.

There are many great books about Egypt. One I own and took with me to Community Bible School is:

Clayton, Peter A. "Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-By-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt." New York: Thames and Hudson, 1994.

In this book I showed my students photos of the Rosetta Stone, cartouches for Ptolemy and Cleopatra, the three pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx.

BIBLE EMAIL GROUP
To join a Bible discussion forum moderated by Nancy Charlton, a subscriber to this e-newsletter, please go to the main CSeNews page and click in the lower left corner on "Forums." The Bible group is one of several email groups under the auspices of www.CSeNews.com.

BIBLE WORKSHOPS
I have two workshops scheduled for September. I'll be in Greenwich, Connecticut on September 20 and Springfield, Virginia on September 27. If you'd like details, please email me.

Yours truly,

Joan Koelle Snipes

Volume 3; No. 4
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